Jan 9, 2013

The Washington National Cathedral, one of the nation’s most prominent churches, will be among the first Episcopal congregations to allow marriage ceremonies for LGBT members, the church has announced.

The decision marks the Episcopal Church’s hopes of embracing inclusivity “that reflects the diversity of God’s world,” according to cathedral dean Reverend Gary Hall. “I read the Bible as seriously as fundamentalists do,” he told the Associated Press.

The announcement carries with it significant symbolism — the 106-year-old cathedral has long been a spiritual center for the nation, hosting presidential inaugural services and funerals for Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his last sermon there in 1968, and the cathedral draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

The announcement follows the recent legalizing of same-sex marriage in the adjoining state of Maryland; same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia has been legal since March 2010.
The change is allowed under a “local option” granted at the denomination’s 77th General Convention in Indianapolis in July 2012, which approved a measure to allow the blessing of same-sex unions

Each priest in the diocese has the discretion on whether to perform same-sex unions...¨ don´t miss a word:

Puerto Rican Americans marching and celebrating on 5th Avenue, New York City, during the annual Puerto Rican Day Parade Sen. Patrick Le...

REAL HERO/REAL LIFE: Bishop John Shelby Spong

“I was simply interpreting a rising consciousness,” he said. “Whether it was race or women or homosexual people, the issue was always the same: fighting against anything that dehumanizes a child of God on the basis of an external characteristic.” Bishop John Shelby Spong (click on his photo)

¨Churches say that the expression of love in a heterosexual monogamous relationship includes the physical, the touching, embracing, kissing, the genital act - the totality of our love makes each of us grow to become increasingly godlike and compassionate. If this is so for the heterosexual, what earthly reason have we to say that it is not the case with the homosexual?¨ Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu